James Baldwin (1924–1987)
Giovanni’s Room
London: Corgi Books, 1977
Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
Giovanni’s Room
In spite of Knopf’s rejection—and his own worries that its content might embarrass his family—Baldwin worked to put Giovanni’s Room before the public. Dial Press first published it in the U.S. in 1956; reviews were largely positive, and it sold well. The feared familial dismay never materialized, but, as he suspected it would, the forthrightness of Giovanni’s Room effectively outed Baldwin to the public.
In an era when few novels explored queer love at all, Giovanni’s Room presented it in an authentic and sensitive, if somber, light. As a result, over the following decades, the book resonated with countless readers in search of validation. Today, the oldest LGBTQ+ bookstore still in operation in the United States is Giovanni’s Room Bookstore in Philadelphia, founded in 1973.
: Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
Currently on View at Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
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